The Second Enderborn
by UlixesC
Summary: Zoey and Rythian have rebuilt Blackrock following the nuke explosion, and are settling down to continue life. But when Zoey is kidnapped by the Endermen and Rythian has to save her, this proves difficult. What do the Endermen want with Zoey? And will they eventually be able to settle back down at home? (Rating is for possible content in future chapters) Zoethian, Yogscast fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

It's been a year. A whole year since the nuke. Since Rythians home, and everything he had worked for had been destroyed. But also a year since he had almost lost the only thing that really mattered to him any more.

Zoey.

He smiles down at his young apprentice as she lays the last brick in place. She had begged him to let her put the very last one down. He had been more than happy to let her, he would do anything to make her smile.

"It's finished!" Zoey spins happily in mid-air, letting out a little laugh.

"And it's about time, too! It took a lot longer the second time... What with all the radiation to clear up, and not to mention the massive crater..." He flies back to admire their work. There it was. Blackrock Stronghold... or Castle... or whatever they were calling it today, was back, standing proudly where it stood once before. He grins underneath the mask that covers the lower half of his face and flies down to stand by the front door. "It looks brilliant... It's so good to be home!"

"This is great!" Zoey lands beside him, looking up at their logo on the front of the castle. "I never thought we'd be back...!"

"Well I saw just how much this place meant to you, and how much you missed it..." _'I wanted to see her smile how she used to... She wasn't as happy back at the base camp... I had to see that smile again...'_

Rythian opens the front door, holding it open and gesturing for Zoey to enter. She runs inside, laughing and staring around at the place. It looked just how it used to. Zoey had insisted that as Rythian built the rest, she would get on with decorating the interior, careful to make everything exactly how it was before. She had done a brilliant job, not a single detail forgotten.

He watches her for a while with a little smile. He would often get lost in his own little world while watching her. She had an unusual effect on him, one which no person had ever had before. She calmed him. She made him feel like there were things worth living for, showed him there was so much more to life than the isolation he was used to, hiding away from civilization in fear. She made him feel... Human.

He loved to watch her hair dance around her as she moved, that beautiful yet unusually coloured red hair that now fell like a silky curtain just past her shoulders. It had grown again since the nuke, much to Zoeys relief, though not nearly as long as it used to be. He loved to see her brightly coloured green eyes that always seemed to be full of joy and light, though a completely different type of light to the literal glow of his own. He loved her smile and the way it so easily brightened his day, no matter what. He loved the way she moved, the slight bounce she did with every step and how even her movements seemed happy. He loved _her_.

He couldn't tell her this, though he wanted to. Partly because he was scared, terrified of her rejecting him, and more scared that she would leave again. But partly, it was because of _them_. If they knew exactly how he felt about Zoey, there was no doubt in his mind that they would do something to her, just to get at him. Though at this moment in time, the thought crossed his mind that they probably would have done something already. They could see how much happier he was with her and how different he acted now she was in his life. So maybe he was worried over nothing...

So the problem must lay in his own fear of rejection. He was probably being silly, but after years on the run, even as a child, from people who only saw the curse on him and were sure he was going to kill them in cold blood, well that's going to have an effect on someone's confidence. Yet as he watched her now, he wanted to do nothing more than wrap his arms around her and tell her exactly how he felt. They were close already, a hug surely wouldn't seem anything out of the ordinary to her. They already slept huddled up together every night, though usually, when morning came around, they would dismiss this as one of them having nightmares or being too cold... Yet right now, he wanted to tell her, and he wanted to do it now, before this unusual wave of confidence vanished.

He follows her into what they called the 'Magic Room', only vaguely aware that she was speaking.

"Rythian? Hey are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?... Oh... Sorry I..." He glances over to her, feeling a little stab of panic in his chest, yet deciding to ignore it. He walks over to her, looking down into her eyes with a soft expression before lifting a hand to the side of her face, then letting his fingers run through her hair.

"R-Rythian...? What are..." She doesn't seem to be complaining. On the contrary, she seems to actually lean into his hand.

"Zoey..." He smiles down at her, watching the blush spread across her face. "You really are beautiful..." He leans down to nuzzle softly into her neck.

"I...R-Ryth-" Rythian cuts her off by lifting his head again and moving his hand down to her chin, tilting her head up to face him.

_'It's now or never, man...'_ At this point, he does something he has never dared to do before. He lifts his other hand to his face and pulls down his mask, revealing three long scars running alongside each other, going diagonally down from beside his nose, over his mouth and chin and down his neck. They look to be what can only be described as deep claw marks, from a very big animal. He has been ashamed about these scars for as long as he has had them.

Before he can give Zoey a chance to react, he leans forwards, gently pressing his lips against hers. She lets out a little squeaking noise, briefly not having a clue how to react, before she closes her eyes and lifts her arms around him, returning the kiss with a tiny smile. She had wanted this for so long...

As his arms snake around her waist, he pulls back from her slightly, smiling a little at the tiny noise of complaint that she makes.

"I mean it, Zoey. You really are beautiful." He leans forwards again to rub his nose against hers, giving her another little kiss before moving back again to look directly into her eyes and let out the words he had been longing to say for a very long time, "I love you, Zoey..."

Zoeys face breaks into a wide smile as she pulls her arms around him tighter. "I love you too, you big lump!" She laughs happily as she goes back in for another kiss.

To Rythian, nothing could make his life any better than it was at this point in time. They were back home, they were both okay. But most importantly, the girl he loved was there in his arms, and he now knew that she loved him too.

Life right now was perfect...


	2. Chapter 2

A month has passed since they had moved back into Blackrock. Everything had been going well so far. Teep was settled in his tower again, the animals were happy, the iron golems were out patrolling, and things had never been better between Zoey and Rythian.

But today, something about Rythian seemed off... He was pacing the castle looking worried, often glancing out of the window anxiously before going back to pacing again.

Zoey has been watching him for a while, looking concerned. She hadn't seen him act like this for a long time. Eventually she heads over to him at one of his stops by the window and wraps her arms around him from behind. He jumps a little as though he had completely forgotten that she was there too.

"Rythian, what's wrong?" She looks up at him with worry in her eyes. He very briefly glances down to her before looking back out of the window again.

"They're coming..." He doesn't need to say anything else. Zoeys arms tighten around him.

Endermen... Of course it was them... Not much else could make him worry this much. She knew they were always coming for him. She knew he had some sort of link to The End, though she didn't know what it was, he had been very adamant on keeping this from her. The link, however, was obvious. First of all there was his appearance. His violet eyes with the purple glow were practically identical to those of an Enderman. Then there was the way he acted sometimes. He hated the rain, always making a point to stay inside when it began. He said the feeling of it hitting him made him uncomfortable, however Zoey suspected that it hurt him a little. He also couldnt hold his sword, Enderbane, without it burning the skin of his hand, the sword designed to be lethal to Endermen specifically.

And then there were the little things that Zoey found adorable, like when he was stressed or concentrating, he would sometimes pick something up, like maybe a chair, and carry it across the castle before putting it down again and getting on as normal. If it wasn't this, he would stack things up, like the books in his library, into sometimes very impressive structures. The similarities were glaringly obvious, yet he kept the reason for them very well hidden. She knew about him being referred to as the 'Enderborn', however she never knew what this meant either.

"It'll be fine," She gives him a reassuring squeeze. "We can handle them. We'll be fine... We're always fine!"

He lets out a little laugh at her optimism. That's one thing she always had. She was so confident and happy all the time, it was hard not to feel the same around her.

"Yeah, you're probably right..."

"Of course I'm right! Aren't I always?" She grins happily up to him.

"Well... Not really but that's not the point!" He gives her a little amused chuckle, seeming to relax a little. "C'mon, lets get some lunch..." He leads her into the kitchen to prepare something for them to eat.

The next few hours seem to fly by. Rythian is showing Zoey how to make another useful little magical item, sat on the floor of the Magic Room. She is happily listening to him and trying to remember everything he says, until he suddenly drops what he is holding, standing up quickly and staring to the wall.

"Uh... Rythian...?"

"They're here..." He dashes across the room, grabbing Enderbane from its place in the corner, trying not to wince as it stings his hand. "You stay here. I'll deal with them."

"What? No! We're in this together, always, I'm helping." She grabs her own sword and stands beside him.

"Zoey, I... Fine..." He knew there was no point arguing with her. He would never win. "But just... Please be careful. I need you to stay safe."

He lets out a little sigh and heads to the front door, taking to the air as soon as he steps outside, Zoey close behind.

Rythian closes his eyes and looks to be concentrating hard. After a few seconds he opens them again, turning to Zoey.

"There's only around fifteen of them this time, they are over in the trees. We should take them on there, prevent them getting anywhere near Blackrock..." This number was an unusually low amount to be sent, there would normally be more than fifty at a time. Rythian seemed uncomfortable about this. Why would they be sending less? It made no sense... What were they planning?

The fact that it was getting dark didn't deter them. Rythian could practically see perfectly in the dark anyway, it was yet another trait he shared with the Endermen. Zoey didn't think she would have any issue in seeing where to strike, planning on using their glowing eyes as a way to locate them when it got too dark to see, knowing she would be able to tell Rythian apart from them by seeing the faint glow coming from Enderbane.

They shoot towards the trees not too far from the castle, leaving Teep in his tower. They knew he wouldn't be able to help out with this, since he was best with a bow and arrow, and Endermen were very good at avoiding projectiles, teleporting away before they hit their target. The pair land in a small clearing in the trees, staring around for any sign of the enemy, looking for the tell-tale purple glow and listening for the little 'whoosh-pop' of one teleporting.

It isn't too long until Rythians keen ear for them sends him dashing into the trees, taking out the first with a perfect precision shot, thrusting Enderbane directly into the Endermans narrow chest. He watches the Enderman drop to the ground with a satisfied feeling. Man he hated that trait, but that didn't stop the satisfaction. He turns back to Zoey, seeing her taking on three at a time and rushes over to assist.

Despite her hatred of killing, Zoey is very skilled with a sword, taking out two of them herself with ease, letting Rythian deal with the third.

The fight seems to go very well in Rythian and Zoeys favour, easily destroying most of the others. That is until they get down to the last three. They each take one on, but while Zoey is distracted by the one that she is fighting, the other manages to swipe for her, catching her non-mechanical arm rather painfully, sending her sword flying from her hand and knocking her to the ground.

Rythian hears her yelp of pain just as he finishes off the one he's fighting, whipping around to see her on the floor, her sword lying a few feet out of her reach and the two remaining Endermen standing over her, one about to go for a fatal strike.

"ZOEY!" He yells as he launches himself at the Endermen, and with pinpoint accuracy, slashes his sword through the air, decapitating them both less than a second before it attacks.

He crouches down next to her, reaching out to take her arm to check the damage.

"Here, let me look at that..." He carefully turns her arm to see the two deep gashes just above her elbow. He gently wipes away some of the blood, trying not to cause too much pain, apologising rapidly when she lets out a little squeaky whimper as he touches it. Once he's cleaned the area enough, he examines it properly. The cuts were clean apart from the blackened skin around each one, as was typical with a wound from an Enderman attack, and it was easy enough to get rid of. "These should heal up quickly... Lets get back so i can fix them up properly..."

He puts his sword in the holster on his back, heading to grab Zoeys too. He heads back to her and scoops her up into his arms, kicking off into the air and flying them back to Blackrock.

He lands at the front door, kicking it open and carrying her inside, up to the bedroom and placing her down carefully on the bed. Zoey watches him has he leaves the room, coming back a minute later with a damp cloth. These weren't the first Enderman wounds she'd had, so she knew what to expect.

Rythian lays the wet cloth over the injuries. As soon as the water touches them, the blackness seems to turn to smoke and leave her skin, vanishing into the air. He takes the cloth away to reveal the now completely clean wounds.

"There, now we just need to finish up..." He moves his hand over her arm, magically closing the gashes and then looks into her eyes, smiling. "All done. Now they should heal fully in no time!"

"Thanks, Rythian! Sorry I let my guard down..."

"Hey, it's fine. They're sneaky things, don't worry about it. You're safe and that's all that matters." He smiles as he pulls her close to him for a hug, nuzzling his face into her hair.

"And we won! Team Blackrock are victorious once again!" She lets out a little giggle, wrapping her arms around Rythian too.

"Of course we did..." He sighs slightly. _'But they still acted strangely... Why would they send hardly any... I'm sure something else is going on... But what is it?'_

At this moment, Zoey shudders a little, bringing Rythians attention back to now.

"You alright down there?" He asks, looking down at her.

"Yeah... Probably just tired and a little cold!" She smiles and shuffles away from him, climbing under the blankets. "Think it's time to sleep!"

Rythian lets out a little chuckle, shaking his head.

"Alright! Guess it has been an exhausting day!" As he gets into bed too, he can't help looking over to her, thinking just how beautiful she was.

He slides down under the blankets, pulling Zoey close to him and giving her a goodnight kiss. They lay happily in each others arms until sleep eventually takes them both...


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next week or so, Zoey seems to start acting strangely. She struggled to sleep and hardly ate. She constantly got headaches too. Rythian suspected she had probably caught some sort of flu. He cared for her as much as he could, always checking if she was feeling any better, but she kept feeling worse.

He was getting increasingly worried. Zoey, his Zoey, was sick and he didn't have a clue what to do about it. He wanted to help her but he didn't know how...

Zoey gets up from the little sofa to get herself a glass of water, complaining that she felt another headache coming on and that it felt like the worst yet.

Rythian watches her with a concerned look as she leaves the room, waiting for her to return. 'I hope she's going to be ok... I feel so useless being unable to help her...'

When she does come back, glass in hand, she looks even paler than when she left. She walks in, rubbing at her forehead. "Rythian... I... really don't feel so great... Worse than I did earlier..."

She stops in the middle of the room, seeming to be shaking slightly. After a couple of seconds standing there looking about to pass out, she lets out a yell that sounds like a mixture of fear and pain, falling to her knees. The glass shatters on the marble floor as she presses one hand firmly against her head, holding herself up with the other.

"Zoey?!" Rythian leaps up, rushing over to crouch in front of her, a look of panic on his face. "Zoey, what's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?" He tries tilting her head up to look at her but she doesn't seem to want to let him.

"It... Hurts... V-voices... Why are there voices..." Her voice is shaking and sounding increasingly more panicked, more and more at every word.

"Voices? Zoey, what do you mean voices? Zoey look at me..." He tilts her head up so she is looking directly at him, but the eye contact only lasts for half a second.

A black shadow appears beside Zoey, towering over the pair on the floor. He breaks his gaze from Zoeys and looks up at the figure. Bright, glowing purple eyes stare down at him, meeting his own, a horrible smirk on the intruders face.

An Enderman.

Rythian doesn't have time to react. In a split second the Enderman has grabbed Zoey by the arm and teleported from the room, taking her with it. She tries to call out his name but is cut off as they vanish.

He stares for a few seconds at the spot where Zoey was moments before, giving his brain time to catch up with what just happened. He jumps back with a little panicked noise.

"Zoey? ZOEY?! Oh god... No... No... Not Zoey... Please..." He shakes his head frantically, still staring at where she vanished from, his eyes wide with fear and his body trembling. "Why... Why did they take her! What are they doing...?! Zoey... No no no!"

He paces agitatedly for a while, panicking madly about what to do, muttering to himself before eventually running off to where all his books are to look for a way to track teleportation.

_ 'I will find you Zoey... I swear it... I will find you and bring you home... No matter what it takes, even if it kills me, I will make sure you're safe...'_


	4. Chapter 4

Let me tell you about the curse of the Enderborn...

The 'curse' is not just a curse as such. Though it could be considered as one. You see, many years ago, the Endermen decided they weren't satisfied with the one world they ruled over, their own world, The End. They wanted more. They wanted another world, one where they not only ruled over the land, but also ruled over the inhabitants. They chose the Brightlands. A huge, diverse world, with so many creatures to have under their command. But they failed with every attempt to overthrow them. Their numbers dropped. There was too much in the Brightlands that hurt them naturally too. They needed something that could fight them. Something to help them win.

They needed a weapon.

They needed a _living_ weapon. One which didn't have the weaknesses that the endermen themselves had when they were in the Brightlands. They had to create one, using Enderman science. Enderman science is a terrible thing.

They decided that they would use a human child, and genetically alter it to be part Enderman. They would give the child all the powers they had, as well as giving it some extra, more powerful magic. Well it was to be their weapon after all. However, all did not go as they planned.

This is where Rythian comes in. At only a day old, this unnamed child was snatched from his parents and taken to The End. They sensed he would grow up to have powerful magic anyway, the extra would just be a bonus to them.

From the day the child entered The End, he was tested on, altered genetically, practically tortured. This was every day. Horrific machinery would change the DNA in each individual cell of his body, tearing apart the strands and replacing some of his human genes with those of an Enderman. Some things they did to him as tests were nothing to do with creating the weapon they desired. Some of it was just for fun. For the first few years of this childs life, he knew nothing but torture, of the pain that they caused him, and what they wanted of him.

Everything they did to him seemed successful. This is where the Enderborn was created. A weapon against humanity, and what was surely the most powerful being in existence.

But there was one thing the Endermen didn't count on. Something they overlooked. Something they didn't have themselves. He had his own conscience, his own mind. This, they forgot to alter.

The first day they let the young child from his cell, the rage and thirst for revenge that were part of the mentality he was given caused him to unleash a wave of powerful magic over the whole of The End, wiping out a large number of the Endermen and destroying the machines they had used on him, along with the whole of the facility they had kept him in. He escaped to the Brightlands, yet did not destroy them. He didn't want to obey those that had tortured him for so long.

He travelled the Brightlands alone. No one daring to bring in this young child, hearing of what the Enderborn was, the one created to destroy them. They would recognise him instantly by the bright glowing purple eyes. They all shut him out. Some places even attempted to execute him for being cursed, in fear that he would kill their families.

This was until one family took pity on him and took him in. They saw through the tales and saw him. The actual him. The human boy under the curse. They taught him English and gave him the name Rythian, treating him as their own child. For the first time in his life, he felt happiness. Until one night they came for him. The Endermen attacked the town. Rythian knew if he ran they would follow him and leave the town alone, so that's what he did. He left behind the only family he had ever known, deciding to stay alone from now on. He was still just a child. Only around ten years old.

Shortly after leaving the town he was attacked by not only a large group of Endermen, but their Queen, the huge black and purple dragon that ruled The End. A vicious fight ensued, in which the dragon slashed his face and neck with her claws, badly scarring him for life. After a huge struggle, he managed to drive them away, though they now seemed to be fine with either of two outcomes, killing him or bringing him back to their side. But at every confrontation, Rythian seemed to be the one to come away victorious.

However he couldn't keep away from them entirely. In his head constantly were their voices. Voices commanding him, belittling him, trying to bring him back to them. Sometimes he couldn't ignore them and eventually did as they were telling him. At one point he flattened an entire city in a matter of seconds. This was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

He found it hard to deal with some parts of the curse. The intense desire for revenge that seemed to fill him, the rage that would so easily take over. Even things like the stinging sensation the rain would leave on his skin were hard to deal with. Eye contact was hard, and in the future, there would only be one person he could look directly in the eye for a while. He found it very difficult to get close to anyone, making friends was one of the hardest things for him. He didn't feel like he belonged in human company. He thought he was going to be forever pushed out by everyone, always seen as a monster, a curse, a hated creature... Not human in any way.

That is until the day the girl fell from the sky...


	5. Chapter 5

Zoey lets out a loud scream, pulling against whatever it is that is holding her down. She struggles and fights but there is no change. She still cannot move. All she knows right now is pain and the sound of machinery. The agonising torture shoots through her body, a feeling of intense burning covering every inch. Not even the pain from when the nuke exploded had been this bad.

She screams again, unable to hold in her yell of pain, only this time, something is forced over her mouth to keep her quiet. Now, she is being held down by something metal over each wrist and ankle, over her neck and across her middle, she has been forcefully kept from screaming, and for some reason, she can't see.

She doesn't know how long she has been here, but it has to have been a while. It felt like forever. Yet, however long it had been, she hadn't given up hope that Rythian would soon be there to free her and take her home, back to where they could be safe. Safe and together.

_ 'He will come... He has to... He always does... Rythian will be here soon... He's going to take me home and we're going to be a family agian... Me and him... And Tee... The animals... This will just be a bad dream... He's coming... I know he is... But... What if he doesn't? What if he never finds me...? What if I'm stuck here like this forever? How long will it be until he gives up looking? No! I shouldn't think like that! He will come... It's Rythian... Of course he will...'_

Another intense wave of pain washes over her, her yell managing to get through what is now covering her mouth.

_ 'Rythian... Please... Hurry...'_

* * *

Rythian is definitely showing the signs of the last several days he has spent with no sleep and without eating, desperately trying to track Zoey down. Several days...? No it had definitely been longer than that... His overall appearance shows his exhaustion, yet there is no way he is going to give up looking for her. Not even for a minute.

He seemed to have tried tracing her to every part of the world, but with no luck. It was as if she had just completely vanished from this world!

_ Vanished from this world..._

Of course! How had he not seen this before! They had clearly taken her to their world. To The End. Maybe it was the panic and worry that fogged his mind, causing him to not realise this at first... Then the exhaustion later on wouldn't exactly have helped.

_ 'They want me to follow... They're using her to try to force me back. Or if not that, to lure me there to kill me'_. He jumps up, grabbing Enderbane and strapping it to his back. _'Well I'm getting Zoey back, and nothing they can do is going to stop me!' _

He summons as much of the Ender magic as he can, using it to jump completely from the Brightlands to The End, teleporting in one swift movement.

_'I'm coming, Zoey... We'll be back together soon... I promise...'_


	6. Chapter 6

In general, the pain had subsided, though she could still feel the dull ache that spread throughout her whole body. The ache that filled every muscle, making every movement difficult.

She is no longer being held down. The days of constant agony seem to be finally over, yet she is not free. She now knows why this is happening, or at least what was happening. But why her? Were they just doing this to hurt Rythian? She couldn't bear the fact that in the end, it would be her who would be the one used to cause him pain. She knew this would hurt him more than any physical injury...

She could see again, though she didn't want to right now. She didn't want to see the room she was in. No, not a room... a cell? Not even a cell really. Cells had essentials at least. This was just a tiny, cold, stone room with nothing in it except for a large plank of hard wood for her to lay on and a solid iron door shutting her in. She was chained to the wall by her ankle to keep her from moving or running when the door was opened. There was also some sort of magical forcefield around the entire outside of the room preventing her from attempting to escape in any other way.

But right now, she is sat in the back corner, hugging her knees tightly, with her head bowed and face hidden, curled up as much as she can get. And she is crying. Tears quietly running down her face as she silently sobs into her knees. She doesn't dare make a noise. Last time she made a noise she received a rather nasty lash across her back.

There is a commotion outside, loud sounds of yelling, as if a fight was going on. Zoey ignores this, too lost in her own little world, trying her hardest to pretend she was anywhere else. Trying to imagine she was back at Blackrock... Safe in Rythians arms...

The noise outside quietens, until there is again, nothing but silence. She still doesn't pay attention. There is a sound of a key in a lock and the heavy iron door opens, scraping over the stone floor and making a horrific noise.

_ 'Oh no... They're back... No... I don't want the pain again... Please... Leave me alone...'_

"Z-Zoey...?!"

That sounds like Rythian... But she doesn't believe it is actually him. Her mind had tricked her about this before in the last few days... She remains curled up, unmoving.

"Zoey, oh my god... Zoey are you okay? What happened?" When she doesn't reply, he closes the short distance between them, dropping to his knees and pulling his arms around her, holding her as close as he possibly could.

There was no mistaking now that this was actually Rythian this time. The warmth and that oh so familiar embrace... She tentatively unfolds her arms from around her knees, lifting them up and wrapping them around him, her eyes tightly closed.

"R-Ryth... Rythian...?" Her voice is weak and cracks slightly, but she manages to choke out his name as she buries her face into his neck.

"It's okay.. Zoey, I'm here now... I've got you... We can go home... Together again, how it should be..." He tightens his grip around her. "Oh god I'm so, so sorry... I'm sorry it took me so long... I couldn't find you... I'm sorry... But it's okay now... We can go home... I'll never let them touch you again..."

He moves one of his hands, using magic to break the metal band around her ankle, freeing her, then he stands up, leaning over to pick her up.

"Let's go home..." He turns to leave the cell, Zoey curled up in his arms, hiding in his chest and gripping tightly to his shirt... "I've wiped out every Enderman for miles, we should be able to leave safely... though this may feel uncomfortable..."

They walk for a while through The End before he finds a stable place to teleport from. He summons the Ender magic again, a lot needed for the jump between dimensions. He builds it up for a while, eventually able to take them both from The End, appearing outside Blackrock.

Rythian hurries inside, running upstairs and gently sitting her down on the bed.

"We're here, Zoey... See? We're home... You're safe..." He sits beside her, wrapping an arm round her back. Zoey says nothing and looks down at the floor. "Zoey, are you mad? I understand why... I took so long... I'm sorry... But there wasn't a single second I didn't spend trying to find you."

"I-I'm not mad... I know you tried... I knew you wouldn't give up..."

"Zoey, please look at me... You've refused to look at me all this time since I got there" He sounds hurt, but Zoey just... Couldn't...

He gently places his hand under her chin to try and tilt her head up to face him, but she just pulls away, not letting him.

"Please look at me..."

"No..."

"Why not? Please?" He tries to tilt her head again, but as before, she just pulls away.

"Rythian... No... I..."

"Zoey," He sounds strict now. "Look at me." He doesn't let her move away this time, quickly turning her head to face him, looking her directly in the eyes. His heart drops.

Over the usual bright green was a purple glow. A glow matching his own. Matching that of an Enderman.

"Oh..." This was all he managed to say, yet in just that one word, you could hear his heart break. Why Zoey? How could they do this to her? He remembered back to when he was a child, the pain they had caused him... They had done this to her too... And now she would have to live with all this... The curse...

"Rythian I'm so sorry..." She blurts out. "I tried fighting against them but I couldn't! I'm sorry! I didn't-" She is cut off as his arms are wrapped tightly around her again, holding her as close to him as possible.

"No... Don't apologise... This is all because of me. If not for me they would never have hurt you." You can hear the pain in his voice, but he tries to hold it together. There was nothing that could be done about it now. She was going to have to live with this. But at least she would have more than he did. She would have him to help her, support her, and teach her to keep it under control. He would make sure she could still live her live as normal. He wouldn't let it torture and break her like it had done to him.

"It's going to be okay, Zoey... I'll help you. Everything is going to be fine. Nothing is going to change." He moves back slightly to look down into her face.

"R-really?" She tries to give him a little smile.

"Really... I promise." He reaches to gently brush a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear, giving her a smile back, even if it was hidden. "You are still so beautiful..."

Zoey feels her face grow warmer as she blushes, before she grins properly. He meant it, she could tell, this was all that mattered to her right now. "Rythian... I love you..."

"I love you too..." He pulls down his mask and leans forwards to capture her lips for a kiss.

He wasn't going to break his promise. He would help her to cope with everything. He wouldn't let this ruin her life.


	7. Chapter 7

Rythian wakes up the next morning to find Zoey clinging very tightly to his arm. He assumed this was a reaction to a nightmare. During the night, Zoey had woken up at least five times, yelling and with tears running down her face after nightmares of what had been happening to her over the past week or so. He hated seeing her like this. She had been like this after the nuke too, and just like back then, he felt terrible about the fact that there was nothing he could do for her...

He leans over to nuzzle into her hair, looking down at her sleeping face. His expression turns to one of sadness, knowing exactly what she had just been through, and also what she will have to deal with.

They made quick work of it this time it seemed. When they did this to Rythian they were still testing everything out, seeing what would work. They also just did some horrid things to him for fun. This time, they knew exactly what they had to do. They got it done quickly, knowing Rythian would have been looking for her, not wanting to risk him finding her before they were through with it.

But why did they do this? The question wasn't 'why Zoey?'. It was clear why it was her. Because that would hurt him the most. No, the question was why would they make a second in the first place? There must be a reason... They only used her so it would hurt him in the process...

Was it to replace him? It didn't seem like it was that... If it was, they would have probably gotten rid of him, altering her mind so she would kill him, knowing he would do nothing to fight back. No matter what, he would never hurt her... Do they need two? Do they have something planned? This was worryingly dangerous. He was going to have to be careful from now on.

Rythian worked out that the reason there were so few sent in the last attack was because they weren't attempting to kill him this time. No, this time they were after Zoey. All they wanted was to weaken her so that it would be easier to grab and restrain her. The attack that wounded her was most likely them transferring something over to her that would cause her to become sick and weaker. This would explain why she was ill over the next week.

_And the voices she said she heard?_

Their voices. They had already gotten into her head. Rythian sighs. She was going to have them constantly in her head from now on, just as he did... He would try as hard as he could to help her block them out. Well, as much as was possible, anyway.

Zoey shuffles against him, starting to come around. This time it isn't the nightmares waking her up. She looks up to Rythian, opening her eyes. Deep down he was hoping to just see her normal bright green eyes, but no such look. The bright, purple glow was still present. He would have to get used to this. After all, she was still Zoey. Still his Zoey, and she was still beautiful.

She yawns a little and gives him a little smile, trying to look as though there was nothing wrong, but it was still evident that it pained her. Though her determination to stay strong was definitely something to be admired.

"Morning Ryth!" She says, trying to make her voice sound as steady as possible.

"G'morning..." Rythian looks her up and down, taking note of the little marks on her body. Small incision marks and puncture wounds from various surgical tools. He shudders slightly as the thought of Zoey having to go through that pains him once more. He notices several burn marks at random points on her body, mentally noting that these must be some sort of laser or chemical burns since fire never seems to harm her. He puts his hands over his face, resting his elbows on his knees and lets out a deep, sad sigh. "I'm so, so sorry, Zoey..."

Zoey gives him a little sad look, shuffling to sit on the edge of the bed with him. She pulls her arm around him and nuzzles her face into his hair. "No, Rythian... You don't need to apologise. You did nothing wrong... It's not your fault."

He just sighs again, going over in his head all the things pointing to it being his fault. If she hadn't been with him, they wouldn't have got to her. It was because of him...

He feels both her arms around him now, finding himself leaning automatically into her embrace, shifting so his arms wrap around her too. No matter what happened, both of them always felt more comfortable in each others arms.

"It'll all be okay, Rythian! I'm awesome enough to handle this!" She grins at him and he gives her a little chuckle, ruffling her hair. "And if there are things I need to know, or learn to do... Or not do... Then you can teach me! I am still your apprentice after all too! Just gives you something else to teach me!"

He kisses her on her forehead, burying his face in her hair with a smile. "Fair enough, Zoey... You're right. It'll be okay. I will teach you to control anything that comes with it."

"Alright! Now, I wanna do something today... We had nothing planned right? Lets take Tee to visit Ravs! Maybe Nilesy will be there too!" She hops up, shaking off the uncomfortable twinges the movement caused, then turns to Rythian, who stands up, shaking his head and laughing.

God, did he love that girl...


	8. Chapter 8

Zoey presses her back against the wall of Teeps tower with a squeak and a scared look on her face, as the dinosaur very quickly grabs his bow and aims an arrow straight for her the instant he sees her. Before he can release it, Rythian is stood between the two, his arms held out protectively.

"Tee, no! Its still Zoey!" He could tell the dinosaur was a little spooked at the glow coming from her eyes. He was used to it from Rythian, but not Zoey. Rythian gives Teep a quick explanation, sounding really hurt as he does so. Hearing Rythians voice falter like that upsets Zoey rather a lot. She finds herself wishing that she could've done more to fight them, to get away... By not being able to, she was causing Rythian pain, this hurt her more than anything.

Teep lowers his bow, giving Zoey an apologetic look, seeming genuinely sorry for what he did. Zoey smiles at Teep and heads over to give the dinosaur a hug.

"It's okay Tee, you didn't know... I get that I must look a little weird." She looks over at Rythian with a little grin. "No offence to you Rythian!" She laughs a little and steps back. "So, we going to see Ravs and Nilesy then?"

"Sure thing. You coming then Tee? I'm sure Ravs wants a rematch after you won that last round of the lever game!" He rolls his eyes with a little grin. He still didn't understand that game.

The trio leave the tower, heading out to the Crooked Caber. Ravs had moved back to work as bartender in his bar very shortly after Zoey and Rythian had moved back to Blackrock and away from the temporary Base Camp near Cabertown. He had said it just wasn't the same without them nearby, and that it got pretty lonely without their regular visits. So, he gave up his role as mayor and left to go back to his quiet bar. Rythian and Zoey did visit him at the bar often, and Nilesy also spent a lot of his time there. He had moved away from Lomadias island when she started spending quite a lot of the time away to be with Xephos, and when she wasn't away, Xephos stayed at the island. Nilesy had started to feel like he was getting in the way a bit, so he moved back out, spending most of his time on his own in his old shack near Baby Jim, and the rest of the time he would find a friend to spend the night with. This was usually Ravs.

Rythian had build a little dock near Blackrock where they kept a boat big enough to comfortably fit a dinosaur alongside two or three people. This was specifically put there for easy access to and from the Crooked Caber. Rythian and Teep climbed into the boat, while Zoey opted to fly alongside them, stating just how much more fun it was than just sitting in a boat. Rythian couldn't help but grin and chuckle a little at this. He was relieved to see that Zoey hadn't really changed at all... Just... Her eyes may look different and she had a few marks on her, though those marks should heal, and she will have the Ender magic now... But she hadn't changed that much... Right?

Right... She was still Zoey. Nothing could ever change that. She would always be that same, fun-loving, carefree, beautiful girl that Rythian fell in love with.

Zoey, however, did have a worried look on her face. She was trying not to think about it all too much, but there was something on her mind...

She was still trying to work out why it was her in the first place... Why did they decide to use her? She had first suspected it was to hurt Rythian, and she was pretty sure that he thought this was the reason too. But while she was stuck in The End, the bits of conversation she had heard between the several hour long sessions of nothing but pain had suggested this wasn't the case. Although, it was a bonus for them. What she heard suggested that there was something _special_ about her that they wanted. But what was it? Could it be anything to do with the fact that she was a-...

No, probably not that... No one knew about that. Everyone thought they had all died out in the massive battle around twenty one years ago, back when Zoey was one... It couldn't be that... Could it?

The fact that she understood them was strange to Zoey. She understood the language that she had never heard before, so she couldn't have just picked it up. She suspected that this was one thing they had done to her head. She knew they had done some things to her mind, but she didn't know what, and that really scared her. So the whole 'suddenly knowing a new language' thing was maybe one of those things? She didn't quite know...

One thing she did know, however, was that they had something big planned. And she was sure that it involved both her and Rythian. It was going to be dangerous, she had no doubt about that, and they were going to have to be very careful from now on...

The boat comes to a stop at the tiny island which the Crooked Caber is situated on. Rythian and Teep climb out as Zoey lands beside them. As Rythian ties the boat up to prevent it from drifting off, he can make out two voices from inside. The first obviously belonging to Ravs, and the second... Yep, that's definitely Nilesy! He smiles a little, feeling a little more relaxed now he was going to relax with his two best friends, his pet dinosaur, and his girlfriend. Every time he thought of this last one, he couldn't help but feel incredibly lucky.

Nilesy and Ravs were the only two around that area, other than Zoey and Teep now, who knew of Rythians past, and who knew he was the Enderborn. The story of the Enderborn was a well known thing around the Brightlands, but since he pretty much hid for years, most people just shrugged it off as a legend. Rythian was thankful for this, however he did get the feeling that quite a few of the people around here suspected it to be him. Particularly Lalna. He shudders at the thought of Lalna knowing what he tried so hard to keep hidden. Though he had told Nilesy and Ravs, They were his closest friends, and they knew him very well, so they never changed the way they acted around him. To them it seemed like nothing. Again, Rythian felt very lucky to have friends like that, especially after the way he had been treat throughout his childhood and the rest of his life.

He had told Nilesy in confidence several years ago. Nilesy had found his best friend hunched up, sobbing and panicked, alone in the forest and wanted to do whatever he could to help. Rythian had taken a while to open up, but eventually told Nilesy how he had just destroyed a whole city and everyone in it, and hadn't had enough control over himself to be able to stop himself from doing it. He had been shocked initially, as anyone would be, but he comforted him and assured him it wasn't his fault, and that he thought no less of him, that he was still his best bro. It was then that Rythian had told Nilesy about being the Enderborn. He thought at this point Nilesy would back off, but he didn't. He just patted him on the back and assured him that he felt no different about him, he didn't care who or what he was, to him he was just Rythian, his best friend, and he promised he wouldn't ditch him for it.

With Ravs, it happened quite differently. He had basically just blurted it out whilst drunk. But at least Ravs was like nilesy with the news, it hadn't bothered him either.

The memories cause Rythian to smile as he takes Zoeys hand and heads towards the door to the bar, pushing it open and heading inside with a little wave. Nilesy turns to see them enter and waves back with a grin.

"Hey there guys, what- W-whoa... Uh... Rythian? Not that I don't trust ya, buddy... But... Please tell me it wasn't you who's done that to Zoey..." He gives Rythian a worried, questioning look as Zoey awkwardly averts her gaze to look at the floor. Rythian sighs and pulls an arm around her.

"No, it definitely wasn't me... They seem to be planning something. They snatched Zoey and took her to... To do this... It took me a long time to find her. Too long. And I feel terrible about it... But at least she's safer now. I'm going to help her with all this. They won't do anything to hurt her, I'll make sure of it..."

"Shit, guys..." Nilesy looks at them with a little sad expression, knowing how bad everything has been for Rythian, and knowing that Zoey will have the same now. And the process... He tries not to think about that. He feels bad for Zoey, but also for Rythian, imagining how he must feel about all this. "So is she actually... Y'know... There are two Enderborns now?" He seems a little hesitant about asking this, but Rythian confirms that this is the case by just sighing deeply and grabbing a drink from Ravs.

To Rythians relief, the conversation doesn't stay on this topic very long. Ravs and Teep head outside to play the Lever Game, while Rythian, Zoey and Nilesy remain inside the bar, discussing Nilesys housing arrangements.

"Honestly Nilesy, you need to find yourself a permanent place, that little shack is no good for you, and sleeping on sofas isn't great." Rythian takes a long drink from his glass. "Remember I only had the ground to sleep on for years, I don't want to see my best friend end up like that..."

"Aw c'mon, I won't... Well I don't think so anyway. I'm sure I'll manage, don't worry about it buddy!"

Rythian makes an unconvinced noise, while Zoey is sat looking thoughtful.

"Hey, Rythian," She speaks up after a while, looking over with a little smile, "Why don't we let Nilesy move in with us? I mean, we have a spare bedroom, loads of space, he's a great friend, and it really wouldn't be trouble!"

"That's not a bad idea actually, Zoey. Hey Nilesy, what do you think about that?"

"I-I dunno guys, I wouldn't want to be any trouble..." He smiles at them, happy that his friends were willing to offer such a thing

"It wouldn't be any trouble at all, Nilesy! We'd love you to stay with us! It'll be fun!" Zoey looks rather excited, grinning widely over at Nilesy

"Oh man, well... If you're absolutely sure it would be okay..."

"Then it's settled!" Rythian laughs, "Nilesy is moving in to Blackrock! It'll be nice actually, still don't really see you often enough." He looks over to Zoey with a little smile, feeling that today had gone pretty well. Zoey was happy, they were with friends, and their best friend was moving in with them. A good turn of events after what had been going on...

Another couple of hours pass and Rythian and Nilesy are happily chatting away, while Ravs and Teep are still playing the Lever Game. Zoey has migrated to sit by the window, staring out, looking distracted and deep in thought. Rythian notices this and heads over too.

"Something on your mind, Zoey?" He gives her a concerned look and she turns to face him with a little sigh.

"Yeah... I was just... Thinking... About this whole thing. Trying to work out why it was me... Why would they use me..?"

"I think they just wanted to make another, and knew that if they used you, it would hurt me the most..." He looks down at the table, finishing off his drink. Zoey shakes her head.

"No I... Don't think it's that." She glances out of the window. Rythian looks up again.

"You don't? What else could it be?"

"Well... You know they did a lot of weird stuff obviously, and that they made it so that i could understand them?" She pauses for a moment, Rythian nods to encourage her to carry on. "Well, from what I picked up from what I heard, they specifically wanted me for a reason... They said there was something special about me they wanted. I couldn't think what it was but... I think I might have a good idea now..."

Rythian looks a little surprised, leaning forwards slightly. "You think you know? What is it Zoey? Can you tell me?"

Zoey sighs and reaches over the table to take his hand, hesitating slightly before she nods.

"I'll tell you when we get home, okay?" She gives him a little smile, which he returns, along with a little squeeze of her hand.

"Alright Zoey, but for now, let's just enjoy our day out."

She nods as they both get up again to head back over to Nilesy, ready to just spend the rest of the day relaxing, not worrying too much about recent events...


	9. Chapter 9

In a small village on the edge of a large, dense forest, a young girl of eight years old is making her way home from the little school. The school building itself looks more like a house, but since the village is so small, there aren't enough children for a full sized schoolhouse.

The girl herself is... rather odd looking in complete honesty. Her long hair is tied back in a pony tail and is a very vivid red colour. It looks too bright to be natural, yet it actually is. Two bits of hair hang down at the front, not tied up with the rest. On the right side is a yellow streak, which again, is unusually natural. There are two red marks on her right cheek that run from her jawline under her ear up to the middle of her cheek, and black, squared band-markings around each of her upper arms. These look like some sort of tattoo, yet she was born with these marks. Her eyes are also incredibly bright, but these are a beautiful bright green colour.

The girl, named Zoeya, who prefers to be called Zoey, is heading back home to the man and woman who took her in and adopted her when she was only a year old. The man had found her while hunting in the forest beside the village and had quickly brought her home. She had only just learned to walk at this point. Her parents had died in a huge battle shortly before this, they had died as heroes to protect others of their kind, and to protect Zoey. The woman, who was called Rose, had always made sure that Zoey called her by her name, rather than 'mum' or 'mother', though she did see Zoey as a daughter, and Zoey saw her as a mother, she wanted to make sure she knew about her real parents and who they were. She also felt like this was more respectful to them.

Zoey had only gotten a couple of buildings away from the school, while chatting away to seemingly no-one, yet was actually speaking to a little mushroom she had taken with her, which was now sat in her bag, when she was approached by two boys who also attended the school. One of them was the same age as Zoey, the other was two years older. They stepped in front of her with a smirk, stopping her in her tracks.

"Oh... Hey guys!" She greets them with a friendly smile.

"Who were you talking to? Yourself?" The older of the two asked, folding his arms and leaning closer to Zoey, causing her to step back a little and her smile to falter.

"No... I was talking to Gary... One of my mushrooms" She replied, as if this was an obvious thing.

"Oh yeah, You talk to mushrooms don't you?" The boys laugh and the older one steps closer once again. "You really are a little freak, aren't you?"

"I-I'm not!" She looks a bit hurt at the boys comment, but she has heard this sort of thing before.

"Yeah you are! Look at you! Your hair is really weird!" The other boy steps forwards, very roughly ruffling her hair, not in a friendly way.

"And these weird things on your face!" The first boy prods her cheek roughly. "And on your arms! What sort of person is born with tattoos? Oh yeah, you're not a person are you? You're not even human!" Both boys laugh as Zoey backs off a little, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"I'm still a person! I'm just... a different kind to you, that's all..." She looks down at the floor, trying to hide the fact that she is close to crying.

"You're not a person, you're a freak! There's no wonder you have to be friends with mushrooms and pretend that they talk to you! Who would want to be friends with you!"

"I'm not pretending they do! They really do... It's something I picked up from my-" Her sentence is interrupted by the oldest boy stepping forwards again, this time shoving her backwards so she stumbles a little, but manages to stay on her feet.

"Shut up, freak!" He grins and pushes her again, this time sending her falling backwards to the ground. "I don't know why Rose took you in to live with her. She's a nice lady and you're just a freaky little not-human weirdo!" He smirks down at Zoeys hurt expression, kicking her roughly in the side before stepping back from her.

"Please... Stop it... I'm not a freak... I've done nothing wrong to you, why are you being so mean...?" She pushes herself up shakily until she is standing again.

"You just existing around here is the problem!" The younger boy spat, "You're too weird, I bet that's why your mum and dad abandoned you in the woods, huh?"

"They didn't abandon me! My parents died fighting in a war to protect everyone! They died as heroes!" This seems to have been way too far to push her, as unknown to her, her eyes had changed from their usual bright green colour to a brighter orange and were glowing slightly. The younger of the two seems to back off a little, while the older one just continues trying to torment her, poking her roughly in the chest over and over.

"Yeah, whatever. They probably just left you there! This village has no room for a non-human freak like you! But your own kind obviously didn't want you either!" The boy laughs, and then everything happens all at once...

There is a yell of "SHUT UP!" from Zoey, whose eyes shine brighter still. As she yells, she waves her hand in front of her, which causes a large flame to erupt from her hand, burning the boy closest to her rather badly from his ear, down the side of his face and down his neck. As he yells and drops to the ground, the flame vanishes and a large wave of energy rushes outwards from her, sending the other boy flying backwards, slamming him into the wall behind him, where he then falls to the ground unconscious. Once Zoey realises what she has done, her eyes flicker back to green and she lets out a distressed gasp, clamping her hands over her mouth, finding herself unable to move from the spot through shock.

A couple of seconds pass, which seem like hours to Zoey, before a man who works at the school runs over to her after witnessing the whole thing. He quickly checks over the boys, one of whom is still unconscious, before heading over to Zoey. He crouches in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders and gives her a sympathetic look.

"Zoey, go home okay? I'll sort things out here..." His voice is soft and kind, not angry like Zoey expected.

Zoey finds her voice, but it barely comes out higher than a whisper. "D-did I... Did I kill him...?"

The man smiles at her and shakes his head. "No, Zoey, they're both going to be fine. Don't worry yourself, okay?"

"I'm really sorry! I don't know what happened! I... Just..."

He smiles again and shakes his head. "I said don't worry yourself. It wasn't your fault. You were supposed to learn how to control that when you were a lot younger, but... Since no one around here is like you, we didn't know how... We know nothing about that, so really it's us who should apologise. If any of us knew how to help you learn to control your magic this may not have happened. No one is going to blame you for this, okay Zoey? I promise. Now... You go home, tell Rose what happened, and try to relax, okay?"

Zoey nods, and after receiving a quick hug from the man, she turns and runs the rest of the way home. As she runs, the tears that have been threatening to spill from her eyes find their way out to stream down her face. She runs through the front door of her house and dives straight into Roses arms, sobbing into her chest. Rose looks down at Zoey with a worried look, giving her a little squeeze. This was not like Zoey at all. She was normally full of smiles and laughter. She would normally come back from school, place one of her mushrooms on the table and sit to finish her conversation with it that she had been having on the way home, before heading over to help with dinner. This was the opposite of how she was normally, and Rose was worried.

She gently guides Zoey over to the sofa and sits her down, keeping her arms around her. "Zoey, honey, what's wrong? This isn't like you at all... Come on, tell me, I'll do whatever I can to help you..."

Zoey makes a little muffled whimpering noise into her arm before she starts to tell Rose what happened. Rose listens carefully, trying to comfort her as much as she can.

"Oh, Zoey... I'm so sorry sweetie, I wish I had been able to help you learn to use it properly when you were younger... But I had no idea how. I wish I had been able to help you more. You should've told me the other kids were calling you those things though. You know it's not true, you aren't a freak, you're not weird, you're special. You are just different to them, that's all. Children are mean, when they don't understand something, that's what they do... It's horrible, I know, but just tell me when these things happen, okay?"

Zoey mumbles something about not being like everyone else here into Roses arm and hugs her. Rose sighs and pulls her closer, resting her head on top of Zoeys.

"Zoey, look... You might not be like everyone else here, but that doesn't mean you don't belong here, or don't fit in... Everyone loves you, honey. It doesn't matter to us whether you are human or not, you still belong here, and we still love you. You're the sweetest girl who we have ever known, don't listen to the other kids okay?"

Zoey doesn't look entirely convinced, but nods and hugs Rose a little tighter. After a couple of minutes they get up and head to the kitchen to get dinner ready for when Roses husband, Richard, returned from work.

The evening goes by like usual for the family, though Zoey does seem a little off. She spends the time worrying about what happened. Would everyone treat her different now? What if she hurts someone else? What if she hurts Rose? This thought scares her a lot. She couldn't let it happen. She couldn't risk hurting anyone else, especially Rose, not after everything she had done for her. She had to leave, it was the only way to make sure that they were all safe. As much as it hurt, she felt like she needed to do this.

When Rose and Richard are in bed, she quietly makes her way around the house with a little bag to grab anything she will need. She doesn't take very much, she could get things like supplies and food as she went. She places a hairbrush in her bag along with a photo of her, Rose and Richard. she takes a few more little things from in her bedroom before pulling a small box from a drawer. She opens the box to find the one thing in it she will not leave behind. A small golden bracelet which now couldnt fit over her hand. She was wearing this when Richard found her in the forest, it was given to her when she was only a couple of days old. She turns the bracelet in her hand to examine it for probably the millionth time with a smile, running her finger along the words engraved into the golden surface.

_Zoeya I. Proasheck_

The bracelet was the most precious thing that Zoey owned. For her kind, it was a tradition that everyone got one of these engraved bracelets shortly after birth. This was also the last thing that Zoey had left which had any connection to her parents or others like her. There was no way she would leave it behind.

She carefully places the bracelet in her bag and heads into the living room, grabbing a pen and paper and writing a note to leave. There was no way she would just leave without saying goodbye or letting them know...

_Dear Rose,_

_I know this is going to be really sad and I'm sorry that I have upset you, I know I have already, but I had to leave. I really think that it is the best thing to do. I hurt two people pretty badly, and the fact that I didn't mean to makes it even worse. I'm scared that I am going to hurt someone else and that it will be worse this time. I'm even more scared that it might be you that I hurt, I really don't know what I would do if that happened. You have done so much for me, I'd never forgive myself. I am scared of not being able to control my magic, it's not your fault that I can't, it was never your job to teach me how, but it worries me that I have something so strong that I don't have control over. I have decided to try and avoid even trying to use it at all in the future so I don't risk hurting anyone, but I still might lose control. _

_I'm going to travel! I guess its sort of exciting, even if I am sad that I have to leave you. I will go cool places and see some awesome things. I'll help people out while I go to earn food and money and other things. I won't stay in one place too long though, just in case. I don't know if I will ever settle anywhere, but if I find a way to control this, I might one day. That might not be likely though. Since I should've been taught at a young age by people like me, it would take a really powerful mage to help me properly. Most people who know magic could probably help me gain control, but to fully teach me they would need to be really powerful and super smart!_

_ I promise that I will be okay! And I promise that one day I will try to find my way back here to see you again, no doubt I will miss you more than anything. I'm going to leave Gary here to make sure that you are both okay! You look after him too, alright? _

_I'm sorry I have to leave but I really do think it would be best. I love you both so much, I'm going to miss you a lot!_

_Zoey x_

She places the note on the table with a sad sigh, placing the little mushroom on top of it. "You look after them, Gary... You're the best mushroom for the job..."

She picks up her bag and grabs her red cape from the coat hook, fastening it around her shoulders. The cape was down to her knees and was a gift from Rose when she was four years old. She had vowed to never get rid of it, and she was going to stick to that.

With a little sad look, she leaves the house quietly, looking back one last time, holding back tears as she leaves the little village to travel the Brightlands alone. A very young girl, only eight years old, starting her life alone. Many years later, about eleven or twelve of them, something strange would happen to her. She would be speaking to somebody in a town after helping out with some farm work, when she would suddenly vanish, appearing high in the air and falling into the lake below, where she would then be helped and taken in by a man with strange, glowing purple eyes...


	10. Chapter 10

Back at Blackrock, Rythian is already helping Nilesy get settled, grabbing the few belongings he had from his 'home' and moving them in to the spare room in the castle. After a few hours of being back, and a nice big meal for the three of them cooked by Zoey, Nilesy decides to leave the two alone, knowing they had things to discuss. He heads up to his new room, with Rythian and Zoey heading to theirs.

Once in the bedroom, Zoey unfastens the red cape from around her shoulders, hanging it over the screen in the corner of the room which her wardrobe is behind. She cant help grinning slightly thinking of the time when this cape was past her knees when she first got it. Now it was roughly at her waist and was a little burned and torn on the bottom. She was relieved that it had actually survived the nuke with only this little damage. she really didn't want to lose it.

She heads over and sits on the edge of the bed with a sigh, Rythian sitting next to her a second later. She bows her head and presses her hands firmly over her eyes with a frustrated groan.

"Something wrong, Zoey?" Rythian asks her, pulling one arm around her shoulders.

"How do you do it Rythian? How do you cope with this"

Rythian pauses for a moment, unsure of how to answer. "Which part of it?"

"The voices... There's so many... They're just there constantly, saying things... Some things are aimed at me, they know I can hear, can't they?"

He sighs deeply, pulling Zoey a little closer. "Yeah... Yeah, they know you can hear them. They will say things to purposely get at you. I'm so sorry, Zoey, I don't know how to get rid of that. I guess that since I've had this my whole life, I just got used to it. I know it's hard, but try to ignore what they say, okay?" He pauses again before continuing with a question. "What are they saying to you? If you don't mind me asking..."

"They... They just..." She hesitates, making a little uncomfortable noise, but Rythian gives her a little reassuring squeeze. "They keep saying I was stupid to escape... That I will be back there soon anyway..." She shudders a little at the thought of being back there. "And they keep saying... That they are gonna have full control over me eventually..." Her voice breaks and she pulls her knees up to hug them close to her chest.

Rythian gives her a weak smile and hugs her. "It's alright, Zoey. They've been saying the same things to me for years now. As long as you stay strong, you'll be fine. They won't get to you, I won't let them."

She lifts her head to smile up at him, giving him a little nod. He smiles back and places one hand on her cheek, gazing directly into her eyes.

"You know... My whole life I've seen myself in reflections and seen many Endermen... And every time I saw any of these, I would always think just how much I hated the eyes, theirs, my own... I hated the colour, I hated that glow... I thought it looked horrible..." He pauses to brush some of her hair out of her face before continuing, keeping her gaze held by his own. "Yet somehow... You manage to make it look beautiful... You make what I have hated for so long into one of the most stunning things I have ever seen... Your eyes aren't completely purple either, the glow is definitely just purple, but your irises, they sort of... Glitter... Purple and green. It really is gorgeous..." He smiles as he feels her skin grow warmer under his hand, a bright red blush spreading across her face. "Its absolutely breathtaking..." He leans forwards to kiss her, moving his hand down to snake his arms around her waist as hers move up to his shoulders as she enthusiastically returns the kiss.

After a couple of minutes they break apart, Rythian keeping his arms around Zoeys waist as she snuggles into his chest.

"I do wonder though... Why you still have the green in your eyes. I'm not complaining, far from it! I'm just curious... It should've changed the whole thing... Unless there's something... different about you?"

Zoey gives him a little shy smile, "Well, that was what I was going to talk to you about now we're home again remember? Why I think they wanted me?"

"Oh God, of course! I forgot about that! So... Are you saying there is something different about you?"

She sighs a little and shuffles back to face him properly, holding both his hands. "Yeah... There's... Definitely something different about me. And I'm sorry I never told you... But, if you want me to, I will now?" She looks a little nervous about it, but smiles at him. The look of nervousness isn't unnoticed by Rythian.

"Only if you want to. I don't want you to feel like you have to tell me if it's going to make you uncomfortable. I won't think of you any differently if you choose not to tell me."

Zoey shakes her head. "No, I've kinda wanted to tell you before but... It made me nervous, I always think you'll think differently of me if I did tell you."

"Zoey, nothing you _do_ tell me could make me think differently either, okay? I promise you that. It is still up to you whether or not you tell me though. Do you feel you want to?" He gives her questioning look and Zoey pauses for a second before nodding and heaving a little sigh. She gives him a nervous smile before she begins.

"Well... Uh, you see... First of all... I-I'm not actually human..." She pauses after this, giving Rythian an anxious look, already worried about what he might think. He just continues to watch her with interest, giving her a nod of encouragement to carry on. "I'm... Something called a Sprite. There... There are four types of Sprites, y'know, the elements? Air, Fire, Water and Earth? I'm half Fire and half Earth... My mum was Fire, and my dad was Earth. Each type has different things about their appearances too, to show their kind. Like my hair I got from my mum, and my green eyes from my dad..." She pauses again, sighing and shaking her head. "But I guess they're almost covered up now..."

She gives Rythian a sad smile before continuing. "We also have different markings to show what type we are! I have these from my Fire side," She points to the two red marks on her face, "And these from my Earth side." She now points to the black band marks around her non-mechanical arm. "Our types are also what magic we are best with! Sprites use elemental magic a lot, so I'm supposed to be able to master Fire and Earth magic fully! We also have abilities depending on which type we are, like being able to swim in lava and not burn in fire is one I got from my Fire side. I sort of used those things you gave me to stop me burning and stuff so you wouldn't get suspicious if I fell in lava and just climbed out! I got a couple of things from my Earth side... Each Earth Sprite has the ability to talk to another creature or something. My dad could talk to all types of birds..." She giggles slightly, "And I can talk to mushrooms!" She sees Rythian smile out of the corner of her eye, his mask still pulled down from their kiss. "The other ability I got is my skill with farming! I'm good with animals in general too, but I don't know if that's something I picked up..."

She lets out another little sigh, glancing down at her knees. "The problem is... I don't know if there are any others left apart from me... When I was one there was a huge battle... One guy tried to take over everything... He managed to work out a way to basically 'steal' the magic and strength of everyone he killed. So, he got very powerful, he killed millions of us in total... But it was actually... my parents who managed to stop him in the end..."

"Your parents?" Rythian reaches out to take her hand, fearing he already knew what was coming next.

"Yeah... But they... They didn't make it out. Right at the end of the battle, they and most others ended up dying... But my parents took him down with them... They both died as heroes..."

Rythian tilts her head up a little to wipe at her eyes, noticing that tears had started falling as she spoke. "Your parents must have been strong to be able to do that..."

Zoey smiles up at him, pride filling her expression. "Oh, they were! They were the strongest! See, they were what are called 'Leaders'. The Leaders are chosen by something that no one actually knows what it is, almost just like a force... We have one leader for each element, chosen by who is the strongest and kindest and stuff, who would be able to look after everyone when it was important... My mum and dad were chosen when they were both eighteen!"

Rythian smiles down at her, seeing how proud she was of her parents, despite not getting to know them since she was so young when they died... "Wait... If you lost your parents when you were one... What happened to you afterwards? Where did you end up? And you said you don't know if any others are left... A one year old can't look after themselves, surely?"

She gives a tiny smile, looking back to her knees. "Oh... I was somehow sent to the woods near a village somewhere as soon as it happened, to keep me safe... It was like they knew it would happen and made it so I would be sent there when it did. I was adopted there by a man and woman... They were the best..." She sighs deeply, "But I didn't get to learn how to use my magic like I was naturally supposed to when I was really young and... Well I ended up losing control when I was eight..." She then tells Rythian all about what happened that day when she hurt the two boys, and ended up leaving home.

"You lived alone since you were eight years old? I have to admit I'm pretty impressed!"

"I wasn't always alone, Sometimes I was allowed to stay in a town for a night! And I had mushrooms to keep me company a lot!"

Rythian chuckles a little and pulls an arm around her. "Of course, at least you had those! That ability came in handy, didn't it! And I always sensed there was some powerful magical ability in you, you always were a natural when learning, even if you didn't see it yourself!"

Zoey leans against Rythian with a smile, feeling a little better after telling him everything. Rythian pulls her into a close hug, burying his face into her hair, speaking up again after a couple of minutes.

"You know, I actually find this incredible... Now you've told me, it seems so obvious, I'm kicking myself for not realising sooner! This is amazing... I almost can't believe it! When I was younger I was fascinated with Sprites... I Learned as much as I could, but was always disappointed when I never met one... And now, well..." He lets out a laugh, giving her a little squeeze, "My own girlfriend is one of what I was practically obsessed over, and I never even realised!"

"Well, I'm glad that it wasn't something that scared you away from me! I... Genuinely thought that me not being human was something that could push you away..."

"Not a chance, Zoey. Like I said, there's nothing that could make me think differently about you. I'll always love you, no matter who or what you are or what you do. And anyway, I'm only half human myself... Half Enderman remember! Not that I'm happy about that, but still..." He nuzzles his face into her hair again with a sigh. _'She is now too... But lets not think about that now...'_

After a short pause, Rythian speaks again. "I guess it makes sense that that could be why they wanted you... Sprite magic is very powerful... And if you are the last, then 'owning' you would be a huge achievement for them... I do think there may be others though. I'm not one to believe that a race as strong as yours could have been entirely wiped out. And from what I've read, dual types like you were incredibly rare... More powerful than others, since they could master two elements fully... That may be another reason they wanted you..."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking... It sorta... Makes sense really." She tries to hide a yawn, but Rythian notices. He smiles and gently guides her into bed, pulling the covers over them both.

"C'mon, get some sleep... You're still recovering anyway, your body will need the rest..." He sighs and kisses her forehead, shuffling down to look into her eyes again with a smile. "Sleep well, little Zoeysprite!"

Zoey giggles at the little name and reaches up to gently kiss him, then snuggles into his shoulder with a sleepy "Goodnight" before she dozes off, Rythian falling asleep shortly after, arms around Zoey and a little smile on his face...


End file.
